The sassy, mono-monikered Yaelisa is one of her form's most prolific local proponents and the founder of the New World Flamenco Festival in Irvine. But she's also spent her last 14 years in the flamenco-crazy Bay Area training a new generation of dancers. And in the company's latest show, which played the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater over the weekend and repeats at San Jose's Mexican Heritage Plaza on Thursday, she hands the spotlight to a protege of dazzlingly soulful maturity.

Melissa Cruz takes the stage wrapped in a turquoise shawl for her soleares, fringe dripping dramatically from her arms with every commanding pause. Dark and defiant, she winces as her back arches, grimaces as her frenzy of crisp footwork climaxes. Any dancer could make pained faces. But Cruz is clearly possessed by the duende -- the spirit that drives this deeply introspective art.

That sensual spirit is in the music, an area in which Caminos Flamencos is especially blessed. Music Director Jason "El Rubio" McGuire has a jazzy signature style and obscenely fleet fingers well-showcased in his second-act solo. In addition to the ubiquitous Roberto Zamora, he's joined by cantaors Antonio de Jerez and Felix de Lola, a singer of raw grief and almost operatic richness. De Lola is at his most forceful in the romantic "Malagueña," as Yaelisa spirals within their tight circle of light.

El Rubio is adventurous. "Sol Viento Flamenco," the program's world premiere, introduces chamba, a "new electronic flamenco dance/fusion sound." With flamenco guitar drifting above a heavy pop bass and new-agey synthesizers, it's about as fresh as Sting's greatest hits. Worse, it makes for plodding group choreography: If drill teams danced flamenco, this would be the result. The first act's zapateado (footwork), for the full company of seven, looks similarly canned.

More successful are the show's percussion experiments. Kick-drum, snare and cymbals (played by Sudhi Rajagopal) revved up the mix for Yaelisa's fiery siguiriyas and even injected a hint of funk as Defne Enc grabbed her long ruffled train and kicked her Solea por Bulerias into high gear. But equally enchanting was the traditional guajiras, a sweet and folksy interlude danced with grace and charm by Fanny Ará as she fluttered her white fan.

The company's encore gathered the principal dancers to clap and shout as the singers cut loose, Felix de Lola looking like a Spanish Mark Morris as he sucked in his gut and pretended to hobble. And in truth only then, in that atmosphere of spontaneity, did Caminos Flamencos' full liveliness flower. Yaelisa's crouching, hip-swinging tangos passed all too quickly. This latest outing is not as unified or absorbing as last year's "Mujeres," when Yaelisa's principal women shared the stage with palpable energy.

But the current show, though hit or miss, proves Cruz, Enc and Ará have arrived as artists. In a region flush with flamenco aficionados, Caminos Flamencos is a company for anyone who appreciates a passionate interplay of music and movement.